Tag Archives: environmental education

Nature’s Children

Keeping kids amused in the summer holidays can be a chore but you don’t need to fly your 4-year-old half way around the world to Disneyland to have fun; forget theme parks, computer games, TV and all the organised attractions … Continue reading

Posted in Aachen & Euregio, Family, In Europe, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ghost Trains in the Urban Jungle

It could be a vision straight from a post apocalyptic sci-fi movie; a real-life “Planet of the Apes”. Trees and dense shrub vegetation encroach over former railway tracks, sidings and marshalling yards. Abandoned steam locomotives, rusting water towers and mysterious structures loom out of the … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, History & Culture, In Europe, Trees & Greenspaces, Urbanism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Green Cities of Europe

European countries including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium have become renowned in recent years for their progressive environmental planning policies which have helped to create some of the world’s most attractive and livable cities. It is therefore no accident that European cities including Vienna, Zurich, … Continue reading

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“Baumhaus”: Radical art down in the woods

In a recent summer, something very strange could be seen down in the woods at the “Dreilander Punkt” outside Aachen at the meeting point of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Weird shapes and constructions (featuring the most outrageous colour schemes imaginable), graffiti art and … Continue reading

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Greening Urban Scotland: the Lothians and Fife Green Network

One of the biggest and most interesting challenges that I’ve had in recent years has been the development of the Lothians and Fife Green Network Partnership (LFGNP). I was involved in the setting up of this project from its inception in 2008 (initially as the … Continue reading

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Getting the Children Back into the Woods

 On Nature Deficit Syndrome and how to avoid it: “I want to climb the mountain with YOU Daddy…”, my 4-year-old daughter Zoe urged determinedly as I  gazed upon the inviting summit of Herzogstand somewhere off in the bluey middle distance and mentally put myself … Continue reading

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